How to prevent fires, inside and outside the home

As the weather cools down, you may be looking forward to gathering around the fireplace, cooking with the family, and cozy evenings at home. To keep yourself and your loved ones safe, consider these tips for preventing fires inside and outside your home:

Whether you’re frying, boiling, grilling, broiling, or toasting, kitchen fires can start at a moment’s notice. You’ll want to be there to put it out before it becomes a problem. It is also smart to stay at home and check regularly on food that is roasting or baking inside the stove and use a timer to remind you when to take it out.

You should have a smoke alarm in every bedroom outside each additional sleeping area and on every level of the home, including the basement – preferably interconnected alarms that will all go off if one detects smoke. Test them at least once a month.

Items such as furniture, throw pillows, blankets, and rugs should be kept away from furnaces, fireplaces, wood stoves, and portable space heaters. Turn portable heaters off when you leave the room.

If a home fire occurs, the risk of dying decreases by about 80 percent when the home is equipped with a fire sprinkler system. And, installing a home sprinkler system may reduce your homeowner’s insurance as well.

Make sure they can’t tip over and extinguish all candles before going to bed or leaving a room.

Keep electric cords out from under rugs, and make sure they’re not frayed or damaged in any way. If they are, replace them immediately.

Wildfires can happen any time. Keep your yard free of dried debris, such as brush, weeds, vegetation, dead trees and shrubs, and anything else that might catch fire if a stray spark were to settle on them. Be sure to clear your property with appropriate power equipment and not during the heat of a dry day, as sparks from a lawn mower or weed wacker hitting a rock can start a fire.